Classical Numismatic Group, LLC
Electronic Auction 430 10 Oct 2018
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temp. Maximinus II. AD 310-313. Æ Follis (16.2mm, 1.86 g, 12h). Antioch mint, 2nd officina. GENIO CI VITATIS, turreted, veiled, and draped bust of Tyche right / APOLLONI SANCTO, Apollo standing left, holding patera and lyre; B/SMA. Van Heesch, Last 4 (pl. 11, 4). VF, dark green to black patina with reddish earthen highlights/deposits. Rare.
J. van Heesch has provided the latest chronology for these anonymous civic bronzes of the fourth century AD. An active campaign of persecution against local Christians, abetted by Maximinus II, reached its height in Nicomedia, Antioch, and Alexandria. Churches were closed and property was seized from Christians who were expelled from many cities. These three major mint cities struck a series of small bronzes honoring the old Greco-Roman gods – Jupiter, Apollo, Tyche, and Serapis being among them. The persecutions subsided in AD 313, possibly as a result of concerns expressed by Constantine and Licinius, the emperors in the west.
J. van Heesch has provided the latest chronology for these anonymous civic bronzes of the fourth century AD. An active campaign of persecution against local Christians, abetted by Maximinus II, reached its height in Nicomedia, Antioch, and Alexandria. Churches were closed and property was seized from Christians who were expelled from many cities. These three major mint cities struck a series of small bronzes honoring the old Greco-Roman gods – Jupiter, Apollo, Tyche, and Serapis being among them. The persecutions subsided in AD 313, possibly as a result of concerns expressed by Constantine and Licinius, the emperors in the west.